Happy New Year, everyone! The Johnson Family welcomed 2016 with some family and friends on New Year’s Eve. Daddy got off work early and came down to the Bellevue Public Library, where Hannah and Aaron (and mommy and grammy) were ringing in the New Year with confetti, noisemakers, and some books read by Mrs. B.

Then that evening, we had both sets of grandparents over along with our friends Jenny, Kody, and Lydia to have some hors d’oeuvres and cheese fondue together. Then we watched the time-delayed ball drop in Times Square downstairs, marking another one of Earth’s trips around the sun.

We still had plenty of snow to enjoy over the long, three-day weekend, so on Saturday we took the kids outside to play in some of it. Aaron got his first experience tossing around the white stuff, Hannah made some snow angels, and Vivian showed them both what it means to throw a snowball. We even dropped by Grandma and Grandpa’s house to play in their snow for a bit. Dad snapped a new, wintry family picture for us, and then we went inside for some hot cocoa — another lovely first for our little ones.